Podcast: Play in new window | Download (10.7MB)
Matthew 6:9-11
Introduction
Across history, various rabbis (some of them renowned) have been recognized for their particular teaching; notable for emphasis on a particular aspect of Torah or their focus on a specific attribute God’s nature, or perhaps a unique interpretation of an historical event. Disciples are supposed to be able to articulate their rabbi’s teaching. More than that; their lives are supposed to reflect that teaching.
Yeshua, too, has a specific body of teaching attributed to Him. The essentials of it are contained in what we commonly call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Understand that Yeshua gave these teachings far more than just one time. On multiple occasions He would have taught one or a few of them as a particular situation called for it. But at one point Matthew records that Yeshua gave a much longer sermon – His “signature” teaching.
This is the outline of the series, and where we are today:
- Blessed are they… (The Beatitudes, part 1) (5:1-9)
- Blessed are YOU… (The Beatitudes, part 2) (5:10-12)
III. Who we are and aren’t (5:13-20)
- You have heard… But I say (Yeshua’s Torah) (5:21-48)
- When you… (give, pray, fast) (6:1-18) (today: 6:9-11)
- The futility of materialism (6:19-34)
VII. Things that could keep you out of Heaven (hypocrisy, following the crowd, false teachers, refusal to act on Yeshua’s teaching) (7:1-29)
Verses 9-13
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’”
Let’s consider this prayer, which is commonly referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer” but more accurately ought to be called “The Disciples’ Prayer” as it is part of Yeshua’s instruction to the Disciples on how to pray. I’d like to consider it a phrase at a time.
Pray, then, in this way…
Notice Yeshua didn’t say, “Pray exactly these words, and by rote.” He didn’t intend for us to make a mantra of this. He was providing us a pattern – a humble and wise approach to Adonai. Now, because this is the instruction of our Master, we should respect that pattern, but by no means are we required to repeat it verbatim.
Our Father…
The Disciples’ Prayer begins by acknowledging the relationship between God and His people. He is a strong and loving Father to us. But let’s remember that this is in-houseinstruction. Yeshua isn’t teaching the masses, He is teaching His disciples. Are you His disciple? I know it is unpopular to say, but despite what Joel or Oprah or Deepak Chopra claim, we are not all children of God. John, the great Emissary of Yeshua said, “He (Messiah) came to His own, and those who were His own (meaning humanity) did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11-12). We become children of God only when we cease our rebellion against Him and transfer our complete loyalties to Messiah Yeshua. Only then can a person legitimately call God their ‘Father’.
Not everyone feels good about the word ‘father’. There are so many among us whose fathers were cold, distant, in some cases completely absent. And others could wishtheir fathers had been absent, for all the abuse they had to endure. May I offer a word of healing to any of you for whom this is a difficult thing? The God of Israel is the Father you’ve always wished you had – and He really is yours! It will make it so much easier to forgive your earthly father when you take to heart the magnificence of your Eternal Father, in whose house you will live forever!
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans8:15). And that brings us to the next phrase. He is our Father…
Who is in Heaven…
Do you believe Yeshua knows what He is talking about? He says that Heaven is a real place. So why are so many people skeptical about the reality of Heaven? I appreciate as much as anyone the discoveries of dedicated scientists, astronomers, medical researchers and inventors. But when a scientist makes existential claims of the non-existence of God, I reject that claim. I will always take the word of Yeshua over the word of any man. And He affirmed that God is real and that Heaven is the place of His abode.
The difficulty is that finite beings struggle to grasp the infinite. We are locked, for now, in time and space, which too are part of the Creation. Everything beyond what our five senses take in (and even our own senses aren’t completely reliable) are things we take on faith. This is what the author of the Letter to the Messianic Jews meant, when he wrote, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, we totally trust what Messiah Yeshua promised!In My House, there are many dwelling places… and again, I am going there to prepare a place for you (John 14:2).
Heaven is a place of unimaginable beauty – and I’ll bet most of you have a good imagination. It will also be a place of tremendous activity… and work and worship and joy and celebration. We will see great men and women of biblical history. We will meet ancestors we didn’t even know about. We’ll be reunited with friends and family members. It will be an eternity of wonder and discovery and laughter. But nothing I say about Heaven will do it justice, since “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
Hallowed (holy, sanctified, set apart) is Your name…
In the ultimate sense, there are only two categories of being. The Creator, and everything that has been created. The God who spoke the worlds into existence is set apart from everything else, because He alone is eternal. Angels had a beginning. The cosmos had a beginning. The earth and everything in it – trees, foliage, animal life, mankind, all had a beginning. God had no beginning. He is kadosh, kadosh, kadosh – holy to the uttermost; Ein Kamohu – there is none like Him! The Greek phrase hagiasthito to onoma sou is imperative in form – Your name will be kept holy!
Think about who He is! He is omnipotent – all powerful. The variety and complexity of His Creation is unmatched for beauty and precision. From the vast, far-flung galaxies and red super-giant stars to the smallest subatomic particle, everything we know about the mechanics of the universe points to the hand of unfathomable intelligence and artistry.
And He is perfect in all His ways. There is zero moral imperfection in all He has done or said. His statutes and commandments are just, and meant for our well-being, both in this life and in the World-To-Come. Throughout history, His dealings with individuals and with nations have been gracious, both for Israel and the Gentile peoples. In rescue and even in judgment, the quality of His love is unparalleled.
He is omniscient – His knowledge is infinite. He knows the number of hairs on your head; the number of grains of sand on every seashore on every continent across the planet. He knows everything that has ever happened, everything that is happening in this very moment, and everything that ever will happen. He not only knows the future as it will play out, but knows every contingent future – what would have happened!
It is really important to know Who it is we are praying to. The Lord God of Israel is all these things – quintessentially holy. And so is His name. His character, His purposes and priorities and reputation – all perfect. Consider all He has done across human history; moving mountains, parting seas, and yet speaking gently to outcast servant girls, giving sight to the blind and vindicating lepers. And we don’t know the hundredth part of it! That is the greatness of our Father in Heaven! And now, what does Yeshua say we should ask Him for?
May Your Kingdom come…
When things are going really badly, maybe we should be thankful that we can pray that prayer with more sincerity and fervor. To be perfectly honest, even though we all long for Yeshua’s return, isn’t it easier to yearn for it when it’s -8 degrees and you’re sick with the flu, or shoveling snow for the 20th time, than on a sunny 70 degree day on the golf course or driving with the top down?
Truth is, it doesn’t take a whole lot to distract us from what should be our first priority: namely, sharing the Good News – investing in people’s lives. But personal circumstances aside, we long for Messiah’s return because at that time He will put an end to the lies, the greed, the violence and the evil that presently holds the world in its clutches. Rabbi Paul put it this way:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us… For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
To pray that God’s Kingdom come is to tell Him that you consider His agenda more important than your own. It is requesting that Messiah Yeshua be sent back to earth. And if you really mean it, it’s a gutsy prayer, since the Scriptures are clear that things will go from bad to worse to unbearable just prior to His return. Some people defiantly ask why God doesn’t just come and right all the wrongs in an instant. As C. S. Lewis put it, when the author of a play walks out on the stage, the play is over. How many people truly want the end of the world as we know it? I do! And I know many of you do! Because the world as we know it is filled with wickedness and deception. God’s people should long for His righteous reign to be established on Earth; even knowing it will get worse before it gets better.
May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven…
It’s easy enough to ask God to have His way on earth; but can you honestly pray, May Your will be done by me…? After all, why bother praying for the rest of the world if you are unwilling to surrender your will to Him? As we pray May Your will be done on earth… we should hasten to add, if silently, “starting right here with me!”
You see, we cannot afford to indulge a “separate-spheres” mentality. What do I mean by that? I mean going through the religious motions and putting on a pious facade on the one day, but conducting business dishonestly and behaving godlessly the other six. This is so serious that I would actually suggest you not pray this if you can’t pray it honestly. The earth, as it were, isn’t your concern. Oh, yes, we should by all means engage in what is called Tikkun Olam – repairing the world. But don’t leave home without having first put things in order.
God’s will is done in Heaven. When He gives the word, countless myriads of angels are prepared to perform it at once, and with joy, since everything He does is magnificent! If we would ask for His will to be done on earth, we should ask Him to give us courage, since the world stands in opposition to Him. We should ask Him to give us joy, knowing the good that is in store, and we should ask Him to give us obedient hearts, so that we do it with all dispatch.
Give us this day our daily bread…
Psalm 37:25 says, I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.
Well, I have been young… and now I am (getting) old. I can certainly affirm those words of David. I cannot make the claim to be righteous, and yet God has not forsaken me, nor have my children ever lacked for food or clothes.
The Greek word artos is translated “bread” just like the Hebrew lechem. But as with lechem, it means more broadly “food”. Give us the food we need for today. I can’t pray this prayer without simultaneously thanking Him that my family has never lacked for food. He has graciously provided for so many years. Does it strike you as odd that, in view of God’s history of faithfulness in our lives, that Yeshua tells us we should ask God for our daily food? And yet, He does. Perhaps by making sure this is a component of our prayer life, we will be kept from presumption – we won’t take it for granted.
So thank You, Avinu Malkaynu, our Father and our King, for taking care of our needs all these years! May we never take Your kindness for granted.
And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors…
I’m going to have to ask your forgiveness, because this is precisely where I am leaving off this morning. Not for time’s sake, I know we’re not in a rush. But we’ve already got a lot to think about in these three verses. And, to be honest with you, the biblical teaching on forgiveness and the relationship between our mercy and God’s mercy is of such enormous consequence that it deserves a teaching all its own. And God willing, we’ll do that soon.
But as we are about to receive the Lord’s Supper, I will say this much: Don’t even think about participating in this sacred occasion if you are harboring a grudge against someone. Because what you are asking when you say forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors is to get from God exactly what you give to others.
This is my Master’s Instruction. Lord willing, we will continue this series in Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount in the weeks ahead.
We have a high calling. Messiah set the bar very high for His followers, and these teachings are difficult to attain to. But to be a disciple means to live out daily the teachings of your rabbi, King Messiah Yeshua. No one said this was going to be easy. As G. K. Chesterton observed,